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Happy Veteran’s Day! – NaBloPoMo Day 11

It wouldn’t be right if I let today, Veteran’s Day, pass without posting a big THANK YOU to our United States veterans and their families. It’s safe to say I do not think I could handle being a member of the military {surely I wouldn’t make it a day in boot camp!}, so I am incredibly thankful for the people who volunteer to serve so I can enjoy the endless freedoms of living in the United States. I also can’t imagine my husband being the the military, having to endure a deployment, or worrying about my other half being on the front lines. So I thank the families of our veterans, too–as they also give up so much and make so many sacrifices. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

When I wrote my summer recap in September, I totally forgot to mention our wonderful 4th of July. We spent a couple days on Lake Michigan with one of my sorority sisters and her family at her fiance’s family beach house. It was so fun staying right on the water near the Indiana sand dunes. We ate, drank, soaked up the sun, and had bonfires on the beach while watching fire works at night. We are definitely hoping to make the beach house a summer tradition for many years to come! After a couple days in Indiana, we headed back into the Chicago suburbs for a graduation/send off party for my cousin Jake before he left for Air Force boot camp. My sister and her boyfriend flew in from Colorado, and we got to spend time with lots of family members giving Jake a proper goodbye before joining the military.

To celebrate the Red, White & Blue, I made a festive bundt cake for 4th of July weekend. Since I slacked on posting the recipe then, I’ll post today in honor of Veteran’s Day. It is super easy, and a definite crowd pleaser.

Ingredients:

1 Box white cake mix

Ingredients called for on box mix

Red and Blue food coloring

1 container white fluffy frosting

Directions:
1) Pre-heat the oven as instructed on the box and prepare the cake mix according to instructions. Make sure you do not use whole eggs–only egg whites to keep the white color. Spray the bundt cake pan with Pam cooking spray.

2) Pour 1 cup of batter into a small bowl, and another cup into another bowl. Use food coloring to make 1 bowl red and 1 bowl blue. You will need to use quite a bit of food coloring to make the colors nice and bright. Leave the remaining batter white (you should have the most amount of white batter).

3) First pour the red battery into the bottom of the pan. Carefully add the white batter on top. DO NOT MIX. Pour blue batter on top of the white. It is okay if the blue doesn’t completely cover the white.

4) Cook according to the directions on the box. Cool the cake for at least 5 minutes before turning over on a cooling rack. Let it cool on the rack for 30 more minutes.

5) When the cake is cool, divide frosting into 3 bowls. Melt 1 bowl in microwave on high for a few seconds until it is smooth enough to drizzle. Drizzle back and forth in a striping pattern. Do the same with the other two bowls, using food coloring to make one blue and the other red. Let the cake stand at room temperature until the frosting sets.

The hardest part for me was moving the cake from the cooling rack {where I did my frosting drizzling}, to my cake plate. You really can’t do the drizzling on the cake plate because you want the excess to drip off the cake. So I had to take a big spatula in each hand and carefully slide it under the cake, then move it to the cake plate. It was risky, but it did work. If anyone has a better idea, let me know!

You could really use this for any holiday or occasion with colors of your choosing {I’m thinking Christmas holiday Red, GREEN, and White cake}. It’s a delicious dessert, easy as can be, and very festive!

Happy Veteran’s Day again to all our veterans and their families! THANK YOU for your service and your many sacrifices! I hope you felt loved and appreciated all day today!